The official measurement and inspection of cloth; a duty or fee charged for measuring and certifying the quality of textiles.
From Old French 'aunage,' derived from 'aune' (an old measuring unit for cloth). The word reflects the important medieval trade in textiles and the need for standardized measurement.
In medieval times, cloth was so valuable and traded so widely that there were official inspectors—alnagers—whose job was to measure it and guarantee its quality, kind of like food inspectors today!
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